DOT looks at Section 8 Unit 91 co-op is grants to clear roads
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• The provision of Section 8 grants to private investors in rail distribution may soon be extended in a bid to relieve motorway traffic congestion.
Section 8 grants are currently resricted to private rail developments which lack adequate road links, but at Freightconnection 92 in Birmingham last week, public transport minister Roger Freeman said that the Govern ment is committed to increasing the amount of freight carried by rail on environmental and economic grounds.
He accepted that hauliers and freight users had so far found it difficult to switch from road to the railways.
"If rail is to maintain its market share and attract new traffic, ways will have to be found to translate that optimism into commitment," said Freeman.
The Government will review the possibility of extending Section 8 grants to relieve motorway congestion, in the run up to the privatisation of British Rail.
But rail-freight distribution would still operate in the same commercial environment as road, Freeman stressed — it would not be subsidised by the state. He promised: "We are not going to take action that will harm the road freight industry and therefore by definition British industry."